Congress leaders held protests outside fuel pumps across the country to protest against the rising prices of petrol and diesel and demanded a complete rollback of price hikes.
Party general secretaries K.C. Venugopal and Shakti Singh Gohil reached a petrol pump next to the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium on a horse cart.
Arguing that the tax on petrol and diesel stood at ₹9.20 during UPA, Mr Venugopal said it is now ₹32.
“The government should stop imposing excise duty on petrol and diesel. It should come under the purview of Goods and Services Tax. We demand a complete rollback of fuel price hike,” he said.
While Ajay Maken led a protest at petrol pumps in Rajinder Nagar and Janpath, Indian Youth Congress (IYC) President Srinivas B.V. accused the government of spending the tax collected on diesel and petrol on “extravagant projects”.
“The reduction in fuel prices comes only on the occasion of elections. The BJP's loot starts again as soon as it gets time from the election campaign,”Mr Srinivas alleged.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra tweeted, "During the pandemic, Modi government collected taxes on petrol-diesel: ₹2.74 lakh crore."
“What all could have been done with this money: Vaccines for the whole country (₹67,000 crore)+ oxygen plants in 718 districts+ AIIMS hospital in 29 states + ₹6,000 as help to 25 crore poor people. But nothing was done,” the Congress general secretary tweeted in Hindi using the hashtag #BJPLootingIndia.
Using the same hash tag, former party chief Rahul Gandhi tweeted “GDP crashing, Unemployment soaring, Fuel prices skyrocketing. In how many more ways #BJPLootingIndia?”
Petrol prices have crossed the ₹100 per litre mark in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Rajasthan, Ladakh and is the most expensive in. Sri Ganganagar district of Rajasthan with petrol selling at ₹ 106.94 a litre and diesel at ₹99.80.
Congess leaders across several States including Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Assam protested while by following COVID-19 guidelines.